Tampa Falls To Florida Memorial To Start Season

TAMPA, Fla. - The University of Tampa Spartans opened the 2009-10 season Monday night, dropping a 77-70 decision to visiting Florida Memorial at the Martinez Center. The Spartans starts 0-1 on the new campaign while FMU improves to 2-4.

Preseason All-American Rashad Callaway led a trio of Spartans who scored in double figures in the losing effort. The junior scored 20 points while also leading the team with six assists. Anthony LaBruno added 18 points while Mounir Benzegala chipped in 17.

UT trailed the Lions by 12 points with 4:27 to play in the first half, but a 10-0 run by Tampa cut the deficit to just two as the teams went into the break with a 35-33 score.

The second half featured eight ties and four lead changes as Tampa attempted to overcome the early hole, but Roderick Davis made a layup with 2:34 remaining in the contest to put the visitors up for good.

Florida Memorial outshot Tampa, registering a 60.4 percent clip from the field while the Spartans were good 43.9 percent of the time.

Tampa returns to action on Wednesday against St. Thomas at 7:30 p.m.

UT will offer live stats along with a webcast through www.tampaspartans.com, accessible by clicking on the Multimedia link. Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers eScores - a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events.